My post yesterday in which I wrote criticizing Brinkley’s proposal to lower the corporate income tax rate has got some attention. I’m not going to wait until I look into I posted about it on Facebook in fact and some people probably read the article. I thought of an idea to stop this development. Its called the #stopbs campaign which focuses on the original sponsors of the bill in the House of Delegates (Republican Del. Brinkley) and the Senate (Republican Sen. Schultz) while urging all Maryland legislators to vote against the proposal. The rallying cry is what I wrote at the end of the article:

“Email/mail your Senators and tell them to vote NO on SB 34! Email/mail your Delegates as well (using the same link above) and tell them to vote NO on HB261, the companion bill in the House. Tell them that the state is already facing a budget deficit and losing $381 million annually to make the state more “competitive” is not worth it. Urge them to not co-sponsor the bill. If one of your delegates is one who is 25 co-sponsoring the House version of the bill, tell them to drop it immediately!”

I wrote a petition for CARE2 in which I stated:

In a time of economic distress for people across the country and in Maryland, two legislators introduced a bill to lower the corporate income tax rate by 2.25%, one in the house (Kelly Schultz [sic]) and one in the senate (David Brinkley). The state is already facing a budget deficit and by making this tax break effective, the state would have a net loss of over $381 million next year if enacted resulting in cut backs in transportation funding and the fund for investment in higher education. Is this what you want? Tell the sponsors of SB 34 and HB261 to drop the proposal!

In the petition letter, I said even more:

Many across the country and the state are still in times of economic distress. This is not the time to lower the corporate income tax rate by 2.25%. Corporations [sic] should in this time of economic distress instead pay their fair share to public funds.

The state is already facing a budget deficit and by making this tax break effective, the state would have general funds decreased by over $295.2 million in FY 2014 according to the Department of Legislative Services. As a result, the state government cannot afford this tax cut in the slightest since it will result in slashed transportation and higher education funds and a bigger deficit.

Instead of cutting corporate [income] tax rates, I urge you to consider that it would be more beneficial [sic] to invest money in creating good, sustainable jobs and improving education in the state.

I urge you in your legislative capacity [sic] to drop this bill, following what Article 1 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights states, that the state government is “instituted solely for the good of the whole” not for the good of a few.

However, while people signed it, they aren’t from Maryland (some are even from foreign countries!) which is a problem…

So, I urge you to NOT sign that petition because I don’t know where those results go. I have another one incoming. There are a number of reasons why this issue is important since this bill causes:

“General fund revenues decrease by $295.2 million in FY 2014 as a result of reducing the corporate income tax rate.”(1)

“Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) revenues decrease by $63.1 million, of which $57.0 million goes to the State, and Higher Education Investment Fund (HEIF) revenues decrease by $22.9 million in FY 2014.”(1)

“Local highway user revenues decrease by $6.1 million in FY 2014″(1)

The current state budget deficit to increase

A total decrease in funds to the state government by $381.2 million

“General fund expenditures from printing and postage increase by $37,000 for notifying approximately 62,000 corporate income tax filers of the rate reduction.”(1)

The main problem with these affects is that the corporate income tax rate (last raised in the 2007 special session) will be unfair. Corporations will not be paying their fair share! Instead we should be investing money in creating good, sustainable jobs, improving infrastructure and improving education in the state.

I urge you to sign the petition HERE to stop this madness and make corporations pay their fair share in the state of Maryland by telling your legislators to vote NO on SB 34 and HB 321! Lets come together and #stopBS!